Taking Quilt Study

into the Future

American Quilt Study Group (AQSG) connects quilt enthusiasts through research and community. We study, collect, and enjoy textiles ranging from the earliest quilt fragments to studio art and modern quilts.

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A donation to the American Quilt Study Group provides a rewarding giving opportunity to help us further our mission to sponsor publications, research, grants, and presentations in quilt-related studies.

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Join us for AQSG Seminar in Portland, Maine

October 15 - 19th, 2025

The 2025 AQSG  Seminar Committee welcomes you to join us for our 46th annual event!

There will be a Welcome Reception, Study Centers, wonderful speakers, Buy it Now and silent auction items, extraordinary vendors, and of course the wonderful live  Auction. This promises to be a fabulous event—in spectacular Portland, Maine! More information and registration are coming soon! 


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Quilt History Snippets

Articles by AQSG members featuring interesting quilts, makers, or patterns they have come across in their research.

By Kathy Moore March 6, 2025
What: Review of Uncoverings 1993, Volume 14 of the Research Papers of the American Quilt Study Group, edited by Laurel Horton Topic: “Prizes from the Plains: Nebraska State Fair Award-Winning Quilts and Quiltmakers” Author: Mary Jane Furgason and Patricia Cox Crews You may recognize the name of one of these authors. During her academic career at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Patricia Cox Crews was a faculty member in the department of Textiles, Clothing and Design, was at the center of organizational events developing the International Quilt Study Center and Museum (IQSCM) – now known as the International Quilt Museum, and she served as the first Director of the IQSCM. Her scholarly work stands on the authority of her lifetime of scholarship in textile research and reporting. Additionally, Crews was a co-author of the book, Nebraska Quilts and Quiltmakers, based on the results of that state’s documentation project conducted from 1987 to 1989. This article presents the results of extensive analysis of the records of the Nebraska State Fair. Using a scholarly approach to the information they applied a material culture approach to data that was collected from Fair entries and premium offerings. The stated goal was to better understand the cultural impact of quiltmaking on the state. [p.188] The authors found that their study of the premiums offered at the State Fair “reflected economic and social changes within the state” with the rise and fall of premiums as well as “inequities based on gender.” [p.188] Combined with information from almost three thousand quilts documented by the state documentation project the authors were able to add information on the levels of education, economic status, aesthetic design preferences – even ethnic heritages of Nebraska quiltmakers. [p. 189] This very thorough report on Nebraska quiltmaking practices and those of the State Fair’s naming of categories and awarding of premiums, while it may not reveal unexpected surprises, validates economic and cultural changes over the decades in other areas of Nebraskan and American history from the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. For those interested in the growth and development as well and the influences of State Fairs this report and its extensive Endnotes section should be a source of authoritative scholarly information. If you don’t have a copy of this issue of Uncoverings, you can access it at https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/aqsg or on the Quilt Index database at the AQSG collection link.
By Kathy Moore January 8, 2025
What: Review of Uncoverings 1993, Volume 14 of the Research Papers of the American Quilt Study Group, edited by Laurel Horton Topic: “Surfacing: The Inevitable Rise of the Women of Color Quilters’ Network” Author: Sandra K. German
By Kathy Moore December 5, 2024
What: Review of Uncoverings 1993, Volume 14 of the Research Papers of the American Quilt Study Group, edited by Laurel Horton Topic: “The Smithsonian Quilt Controversy: Cultural Dislocation” Author: Judy Elsley
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See Yourself in AQSG!

Featured Publication

Uncoverings

Uncoverings, the annual peer-reviewed journal of AQSG, features papers that present the most recent advances in quilt-related research. The cover of Volume 45 (2024) is The Mary Worrall Parry quilt, 1844-1845, and is inscribed with the names of a small group of families that were friends and neighbors in the Ridley Township, Delaware County, in southeast Pennsylvania. Photo courtesy of Cathy Erickson; photograph by Jennifer Charbonneau.

Uncoverings

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